By Jane Prendergast
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The methamphetamine problem is escalating enough in Cincinnati to make police start their own lab cleanup unit.

The department took applications for officers interested in being trained to respond to meth labs, dangerous because fumes from the chemicals can overcome people and the chemicals can explode. The officers will get training from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

"We just see the need in the future,'' said Capt. Paul Humphries, commander of the vice unit. "We're trying to get ahead of it.''

Finding meth labs still isn't as common in Cincinnati as it is in surrounding counties. Clermont County leads the state in discovered labs - 49 in the two years ending July 2003 - according to the Ohio Attorney General's Office.

Cincinnati found its first in 2001 and has found six since then, three of them last year, according to department statistics.

The drug is a highly addictive stimulant made from pseudoephedrine and other household substances such as drain cleaner, ammonia and fertilizer. When the ingredients are mixed, they can become flammable.

Humphries and Lt. Doug Ventre, the department's tactical planning supervisor and head of its SWAT team, hope to get federal grants to buy equipment.

The DEA, which has a regional cleanup team, is happy to help departments get training in handling meth, said Jim Shroba, agent in charge of the Cincinnati office.

The federal agency trained 76 officers in Ohio last year, 30 in Kentucky and 1,700 nationwide, he said. Officers learn to recognize and test the chemicals and separate them to prevent a volatile reaction.

Three Cincinnati officers already are trained. Humphries expects about a dozen officers to be trained by summer.

This week, a measure to increase the penalties for the manufacture of illegal drugs in the vicinity of children or schools unanimously passed the Ohio House.

E-mail jprendergast@enquirer.com